177: Chapter 177 Wei Xiaoyu's Regret

"I beat thirty-four people."

"So?"

"Eighteen seconds."

"I know."

"Do you still think it was slow?"

"It was mainly because you wasted time testing the Titan armor."

Su Bai analyzed earnestly.

"If Time Stop had been used directly, it should have ended in about twelve seconds."

Qin Ye stared at him for several seconds.

Finally, she abandoned the dangerous thought of beating her Card Creator on the national broadcast and buried her face back into Su Bai's shoulder.

"Forget it."

"Anyway, I won."

Her voice became a bit hoarse.

"Back in the Underground Black Boxing Arena, no one would remember my name."

"They only knew I was that unkillable defective product. If I won, they would keep sending me out to fight; if I lost, they would throw me into the healing room, wait for my body to be barely pieced back together, and then arrange the next match."

"I also thought I would live there forever."

"Until I died in the ring one day."

Qin Ye closed her eyes.

The dim lights of the Underground Black Boxing Arena, the frantic shouts of the audience, and the smell of mixed blood and cheap disinfectant seemed to still linger deep in her memory.

At that time, she never thought that one day she would Stand on the highest podium of the National Competition.

Nor did she ever think that the Empress would personally put the champion badge on her.

"You gave me a new body."

"You gave me the magical girl card."

"And you also made me awaken [The World]."

"Without you, I wouldn't even have the qualification to Stand here."

Qin Ye let go of her hand and stepped back half a step.

She raised her hand, took off the champion badge on her chest, and carefully placed it into Su Bai's palm.

"The championship is mine."

"But this era was fought and won by you."

The arena gradually quieted down.

Countless gazes fell upon the two of them.

They suddenly realized that what Qin Ye said was not wrong.

The national champion belonged to Qin Ye.

She endured the mental torment of the Stand, overcame her past fears, and personally stepped into the ring to defeat all opponents.

But the person who truly made this victory possible was Su Bai.

Magical Girl.

Stand.

Two brand-new systems both came from the hands of the same person.

Su Bai took the champion badge, glanced at it twice, and then pinned it back onto Qin Ye's chest.

"I don't need this."

"Why?"

"I have already gotten the reward I wanted."

Su Bai looked up in the direction where the philosophers stone had disappeared.

"Besides, the championship was yours to begin with."

"Without you, [The World] wouldn't have gained the recognition of the laws so quickly."

Qin Ye was stunned for a moment.

Su Bai tidied her slightly messy champion cloak, his tone calm.

"So, keep it well."

"In the future, the Stand System will still need you, the First Female Asura, to promote it."

"Understood."

Qin Ye nodded heavily.

At that very moment, a system prompt rang in Su Bai's mind.

[Contract target Qin Ye's recognition of the Stand System has reached the maximum threshold.]

[Contract target has formed a stable golden spirit.]

[Stand soul anchoring conditions met.]

[Performing permanent anchoring...]

In front of Qin Ye, that dark purple tarot card floated up on its own.

The outline of [The World] slowly rose from the card face, and then transformed into a dark golden light that merged into Qin Ye's glabella.

Countless fine mental circuits unfolded deep within her soul.

The manifestation channel originally connecting the Stand Card and Qin Ye rapidly faded, replaced by a Stand mark directly branded into the origin of her soul.

[Permanent anchoring complete.]

[Stand: The World.]

[Host: Qin Ye.]

[Current status: Completely awakened.]

[Even if the Stand Card is damaged, the host will not lose the Stand; only the manifestation speed and energy conversion efficiency will decrease due to the lack of a physical medium.]

[Congratulations to the host for nurturing the first permanently awakened person of the Stand System.]

[Mental feedback obtained.]

Boom!

An extremely pure surge of Mental Power poured into Su Bai's body along the connection of the Stand System.

[The World] behind Su Bai flashed and disappeared.

At this moment, he could clearly feel the trajectory of every flowing thread of time around him.

The ribbons drifting in the distance.

The constantly flashing camera lenses of reporters.

The sounds spreading through the air.

And even the slowly flowing golden light of national fortune beside the Empress.

Everything became incomparably clear.

If the previous Time Stop still carried a bit of unskillfulness, that sense of instability had now completely vanished.

As long as Su Bai was willing, he could use his own Mental Power at any time to forcibly cut off the surrounding timeline.

The system prompt emerged once again.

[The World · Time Stop stability increased.]

[Current stability: One hundred percent.]

[Current normal stopped time: Five seconds.]

[Limit stopped time: Unknown.]

Su Bai looked at the last line, thoughtful.

The limit time depended on Mental Power, physical load-bearing capacity, and the resistance of world laws.

He now possessed both the Magical Girl System and the Stand System, with almost no obvious shortcomings in physical load-bearing; the only things truly restricting him were probably Mental Power and law resistance.

Qin Ye could stop time for thirty seconds.

His upper limit would only be longer.

It seemed that after going back, it was necessary to find a deserted place to test it out.

Su Bai didn't want to try it casually in the center of the Imperial Capital.

In case he stopped it for too long and the Empress thought he intended to steal the philosophers stone, it would be very troublesome to explain.

"Congratulations."

A clear voice came from the side.

Master Mage Chen Taixu had changed out of his damaged contestant uniform, wearing a simple Taoist robe, still holding that wooden sword with only the top half remaining.

He came before Qin Ye and Su Bai, showing no unwillingness after his defeat.

On the contrary, his eyes were even brighter than before the match started.

"I am utterly convinced of my defeat."

Master Mage Chen Taixu looked at Qin Ye.

"When you cut off my connection with the wooden sword, I once felt that this ability was taking a shortcut."

"But later, when I saw you smash straight through the Titan Furnace, I realized that even without relational interference, I couldn't take a punch from [The World]."

Qin Ye nodded.

"You are strong."

Master Mage Chen Taixu smiled.

"Hearing these words from the champion can barely make me feel a bit better."

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Su Bai and bowed solemnly.

"Mr. Su, the Stand System has truly opened my eyes."

"I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"Can a sword cultivator awaken a Stand?"

Su Bai pondered briefly.

"Yes."

"A Stand is the manifestation of Mental Power, theoretically having no conflict with occupations."

Master Mage Chen Taixu's eyes lit up.

"Then could my Stand be a sword?"

"Not necessarily."

"Then what could it be?"

"It could also be a ship, a turtle, a pistol, or a strange creature hidden inside a sword."

The expectation on Master Mage Chen Taixu's face gradually froze.

"Can't it be a bit more normal?"

"The form of a Stand depends on the soul."

Su Bai patted his shoulder.

"So you have to ask yourself about this."

Master Mage Chen Taixu looked down at the broken sword in his hand, beginning to doubt for the first time whether his soul was normal or not.

Before he could figure out an answer, three other people walked over from the other side.

Wei Xiaoyu walked in the front.

She had already woken up from her coma, and there were no serious injuries on her body, but her complexion remained pale.

War Emperor Wei Potian and Wei Tianlong followed behind her.

The footsteps of all three of them were somewhat heavy.

Especially Wei Xiaoyu.